HOW ART WORKS : a psychological exploration.

By:

WINNER, ELLEN

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: [Place of publication not identified], OXFORD University Press, 2018.Description: X, 304 p. ; 24 cm illContent type:

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

0190863358
9780190863357

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

700.19 WIN

LOC classification:

Summary: There is no end of talk and of wondering about 'art' and 'the arts.' This book examines a number of questions about the arts (broadly defined to include all of the arts). Some of these questions come from philosophy. Others are "common sense" questions that laypersons wonder about. 0This book examines puzzles about the arts wherever their provenance - as long as there is empirical research using the methods of social science (interviews, experimentation, data collection, statistical analysis) that can shed light on these questions. The examined research reveals how ordinary people think about these questions, and why they think the way they do - an inquiry referred to as intuitive aesthetics. The book shows how psychological research on the arts has shed light on and often offered surprising answers to such questions.

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Standard Loan	LSAD Library Main Collection	700.19 WIN (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		39002100640631

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

There is no end of talk and of wondering about "art" and "the arts." This book examines a number of questions about the arts (broadly defined to include all of the arts). Some of these questions come from philosophy. Examples include:· What makes something art? · Can anything be art? · Do we experience "real" emotions from the arts? · Why do we seek out and even cherish sorrow and fear from art when we go out of our way to avoid these very emotions in real life? · How do we decide what is good art? Do aesthetic judgments have any objective truth value? · Why do we devalue fakes even if we -- indeed, even the experts--- can't tell them apart from originals? · Does fiction enhance our empathy and understanding of others? Is art-making therapeutic? Others are "common sense" questions that laypersons wonder about. Examples include:· Does learning to play music raise a child's IQ? · Is modern art something my kid could do? · Is talent a matter of nature or nurture? This book examines puzzles about the arts wherever their provenance - as long as there is empirical research using the methods of social science (interviews, experimentation, data collection, statistical analysis) that can shed light on these questions. The examined research reveals how ordinary people think about these questions, and why they think the way they do - an inquiry referred to as intuitive aesthetics. The book shows how psychological research on the arts has shed light on and often offered surprising answers to such questions.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

There is no end of talk and of wondering about 'art' and 'the arts.' This book examines a number of questions about the arts (broadly defined to include all of the arts). Some of these questions come from philosophy. Others are "common sense" questions that laypersons wonder about. 0This book examines puzzles about the arts wherever their provenance - as long as there is empirical research using the methods of social science (interviews, experimentation, data collection, statistical analysis) that can shed light on these questions. The examined research reveals how ordinary people think about these questions, and why they think the way they do - an inquiry referred to as intuitive aesthetics. The book shows how psychological research on the arts has shed light on and often offered surprising answers to such questions.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

Acknowledgments (p. ix)
Part 1 Introduction
Chapter 1 Perennial Questions (p. 3)
Chapter 2 Can This Be Art? (p. 6)
Part 2 Art and Emotion
Chapter 3 Wordless Sounds: Hearing Emotion in Music (p. 31)
Chapter 4 Feeling From Music: Emotions in the Music Listener (p. 43)
Chapter 5 Color and Form: Emotional Connotations of Visual Art (p. 60)
Chapter 6 Emotions in the Art Museum: Why Don't We Feel Like Crying? (p. 77)
Chapter 7 Drawn to Pain; The Paradoxical Enjoyment of Negative Emotion in Art (p. 88)
Part 3 Art and Judgment
Chapter 8 Is It Good? Or Just Familiar? (p. 103)
Chapter 9 Too Easy to Be Good? The Effort Bias (p. 125)
Chapter 10 Identical! What's Wrong with a Perfect Fake? (p. 136)
Chapter 11 "But My Kid Could Have Done That!" (p. 151)
Part 4 What Art Does-and Does Not-Do for Us
Chapter 12 Silver Bullets: Does Art Make Us Smarter? (p. 167)
Chapter 13 The Lives of Others: Fiction and Empathy (p. 189)
Chapter 14 Does Making Art Improve Well-Being? (p. 211)
Part 5 Making Art
Chapter 15 Who Makes Art and Why? (p. 219)
Part 6 Conclusion
Chapter 16 How Art Works (p. 237)
Notes (p. 247)
References (p. 265)
Index (p. 295)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Ellen Winner is Professor of Psychology at Boston College and Senior Research Associate at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education. She directs the Arts and Mind Lab, which focuses on cognition in the arts in typical and gifted children as well as adults. She received the Rudolf Arnheim Award for Outstanding Research by a Senior Scholar in Psychology and the Arts from Division 10 in 2000.